1. Introduction

This Communication sets out a European Green Deal for the European Union (EU) and its citizens. It resets the Commission’s commitment to tackling climate and environmental-related challenges that is this generation’s defining task. The atmosphere is warming and the climate is changing with each passing year. One million of the eight million species on the planet are at risk of being lost. Forests and oceans are being polluted and destroyed.

2. What are the climate objectives of the European Green Deal of the European Commission?

The Commission will propose the first European ‘Climate Law’ by March 2020, putting the 2050 climate neutrality objective into law. By summer 2020, the Commission will also present a plan to increase the EU’s greenhouse gas emission reductions target for 2030 to at least 50% and towards 55% compared with 1990 levels in a responsible way.

Achieving a climate neutral and circular economy requires the full mobilization of industry. It takes 25 years - a generation - to transform an industrial sector and all value chains. To be ready in 2050, decisions and actions must be taken over the next five years.

The EU Commission will also work with the Member States to step up the EU’s efforts to ensure that current legislation and policies relevant to the European Green Deal are enforced, in particular reforms to ensure efficient pricing of carbon across the economy.